Essentials Cultist Warlock

The Cultist is what I think the “default” Warlock should be — forget the hokey pacts made with Infernal, Fey, Star, or whatever entities. The Warlock ought to be a Shadow-based spellcaster — perhaps even the Shadow spellcaster.

Everyone got to see the Dark Beckoning power in the preview yesterday (Patrons got to see the entire class yesterday), and it’s a Warlock boon that I could not be made to shut up about. It’s just cool. Maybe the Cultist doesn’t want to pull enemies closer — but why wouldn’t they? It’s great positioning for Utterdark Blast.

The Cultist’s Eldritch Blast deals extra damage whenever he has partial or total concealment — and the Cultist gain partial concealment whenever he walks, runs, or shifts as a move action. The Cultist is a Lurker … a Stalker .. a Skulker.

Once the Cultist has softened up his enemies with Utterdark Blast, Eldritch Blast becomes more potent — dealing even more damage until the end of their next turn. Eldritch Blast being a basic attack is great for leaders who grant ranged attacks.

Curse of Darkness is icing on the cake. Blindness (save ends) on a critical hit is great for the striker-controller who wants concealment … it’s a guarantee of extra damage against the blinded foe, whether the Cultist moves or not!

Dark Offering allows the Cultist to burn a healing surge for some extra damage at 2nd level, and Frigid Armor enables them to temporarily augment their at-will attacks. Shadow Leap at 10th level allows the Cultist to fly when they have concealment — but they’ll have to be careful to reacquire their concealment between flights.

You can expect revisions to the Hellraiser and the Starcaller to follow — they’re both going to be Shadow-only classes. I intend to completely drop the pretense of their being Arcane classes. I guess that’s sad for some Arcane feats (White Lotus, I’m looking at you), but I’m sure fans of Shadow power couldn’t be happier.